Are you living in one of the most expensive cities on Earth? Unequivocally, I can tell you I am not. While Camden, Ohio, has plenty of amenities, it did not make the list of the Top 10 Most Expensive Cities to Live in the World List. Is your city on the list? Well, I am here to give you the big reveal. The Economist Intelligence Group and the Employment Conditions Abroad International Group compiled the grand list. They looked at everyday expenses like rent and the cost of public transit, among other things, in their calculations. They also compared 500 prices of items in each area.
The world’s TEN most expensive cities to live in 2022?
1. New York and Singapore (tie)
3. Tel Aviv, Israel
4. Hong Kong and Los Angeles (tie)
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Geneva, Switzerland
8. San Francisco, California
9. Paris, France
10. Copenhagen, Denmark
(List printed from CNN)
I’ve been to five of these cities. Some more recently than others. Truthfully, most things seemed expensive during past travels. But these days? What the heck! Everything really IS expensive. There have been many contributing factors, but mostly the causes include supply chain disruptions, an ongoing overlap from our recent COVID-19 pandemic; the terrible war in Ukraine; continued lockdowns in China; and Mercury in retrograde. Okay. I made that up about Mercury.
But while we are on the subject, Mercury is the dinkiest planet in the solar system. This little planet is only about 3,030 miles in diameter. That means it is about as wide as the continental United States (from New York — first on the list — to San Francisco — number eight). But what about the retrograde thing? Even though they said retrograde, Mercury isn’t really moving backward. It’s just slowing down. Mercury normally moves faster than Earth around the sun. But when Mercury is retrograde, it is slower. Mercury usually takes just 88 days to get all the way around the sun. We here on Earth take 365 days to make the trip. It’s all very complicated about how it rotates and travels and how the sun’s gravity pull affects it.
Just let me tell you. Mercury gets wonky. So you may be wondering what this has to do with the most expensive cities in the world. Well, as mentioned, I made that part up. It has nothing to do with it. Except for the fact that the prices in those cities are out of this world. So, all in all, I suppose I’m glad to be in Camden, Ohio. Home of the Dirt Cheap. And, on any given night, I can look up and get a glimpse of all the planets.
Even tiny Mercury. And that, my friends, is priceless.
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“The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.” — Azar Nafisi
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“Money comes with a cost.” ― J.R. Rim
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“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
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